[Guite]

I don't know anything about Motorsport and what kind of facilities it would demand, but looking at your space programme it seems the quantum of your built space would be very low. Technically it could be challenging but architecturally?

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by cruiser@0523

Hello all, I am in my final year of Architecture and those of you who are familiar with it would know about the "thesis". A six month project involving complete design of a building or a group of buildings.

Now i have vaguely decided on my topic. It's going to be a Motorsports village set somewhere in the Himalayas. (Spiti etc.)

This is where I need help and suggestions from all of you. I am conducting a feasibility study on the project.

Would you like feedback on feasibility or architecture?

If its the former, its really really challenging given the location you have mentioned.

Please clarify what you require and then folks can help.

[cruiser@0523]

Originally Posted by Guite

I don't know anything about Motorsport and what kind of facilities it would demand, but looking at your space programme it seems the quantum of your built space would be very low. Technically it could be challenging but architecturally?

This is the main problem im looking at. In terms of built space all I have is a resort which is part of the village. I might make it work but these kinds of ideas don't go well with the jury. They will simply tell me to scrap the off-roading business and just design a resort.

So I am looking for more stuff to build, not just for the sake of it but to enhance the overall package.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Would you like feedback on feasibility or architecture?

If its the former, its really really challenging given the location you have mentioned.

Please clarify what you require and then folks can help.

I am well versed with Spiti and its architecture, the built form i'm looking at will be vernacular in nature. I have always wanted to experiment with contemporary-vernacular forms and what aesthetic experiences can be created when these meet. Hence I am thinking of Spiti as a probable site, again this whole thing is at a nascent stage and I am also thinking of a more habitable area like nearby Shimla or even western ghats.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by cruiser@0523

Hello all, I am in my final year of Architecture and those of you who are familiar with it would know about the "thesis". A six month project involving complete design of a building or a group of buildings.

Now i have vaguely decided on my topic. It's going to be a Motorsports village set somewhere in the Himalayas. (Spiti etc.)

It is a very interesting topic indeed. However, I see two major challenges with the concept:

1. Convincing your faculty members for the topic and finding a good guide for the project seems difficult (or at least it was difficult in our times)

2. The feasibility in terms of business sense of the project needs to be thoroughly carried out. The concept will fail in initial stages if the developer of such village is not getting back returns on his returns in 9-10 years. External jury will pick on such issues if they do not find any flaw with the design. For me a place closed to Chandigarh (Baddi etc.) or close to a Metro city will have better prospects.

[Guite]

On sports related project you can have a look at this live project:
http://bcd.bih.nic.in/News/NE-04-03-06-2014.pdf
Jump to page 40 onwards. It's huge, maybe too big for thesis. But then you can exclude the residential portion.

[TheQuarterMile]

Originally Posted by cruiser@0523

Hello all, I am in my final year of Architecture and those of you who are familiar with it would know about the "thesis". A six month project involving complete design of a building or a group of buildings.

Now i have vaguely decided on my topic. It's going to be a Motorsports village set somewhere in the Himalayas. (Spiti etc.)

This is where I need help and suggestions from all of you. I am conducting a feasibility study on the project.

Don't hold back, harsh critique is most welcome.

Concept : An integrated facility consisting of :-

A resort designed taking in mind the 'petrolhead' values.

A go kart track

Off-roading trail

A super special rally stage to be a part of Raid/Sjoba rally etc.

A workshop

Camping space

Misc. recreational spaces

A museum about the history of motorsports in India.

Exhibition space

Restaurant/cafe for day-trippers

Maybe a small race track for fun/testing purposes. Could be included as a part of a village in the hills. ( think of Monaco circuit but rural )

Who would use it ?

Off roading enthusiasts or rallyists in their spare time

They can spend a weekend with their family camping and off roading where everyone can have fun, in the company of like minded people.

Venue can be used as a platform for companies to launch their Big Suv's in their natural habitat.

Autocross events ( think of Sjoba or Oya in Chandigarh and Mohali )

A part / a halt / a special stage included in Raid De Himalaya.

Interesting halt for motorcycle tourers.


Now as of now i feel the whole concept is a bit hollow, so i need to think of more stuff which can be added to make this project worth my time.

suggestions can include

what you would want with such a facility

Do you think it will work ?

In your general experiences, have you ever made a connection with architecture, yourself and your car/motorcycle ?

Do you think the space that you or your car inhabit, makes a difference in your overall experience ?

Would you prefer to stay in a resort which is designed and styled by an automobile enthusiast and suits your sense of aesthetics ?

What more can be added to the facility ? ( please try to keep the suggestions architecture related )

I will post more questions as and when they pop in my head.

Looking forward to some valuable suggestions.

I finished my thesis 6months back. I finally did a Oceanarium at Worli dairy, Mumbai. I had backed out of the idea of a Motorsprt Complex because I was on a time crunch and din't have enough time to research Site Locations.

Here are a few observations i made when i did partial research on a Motorsports Complex:
-Your justification has to be really strong in terms of Usability:Cost Of Project ratio. I had gone through a few other thesis and all had Land requirement ranging from 700-1000 acres.This raised an issue of acquiring large volume of land for circuits.
-Another thing I noticed about Motorsport events and circuits is that majority of them thrive on weekend and Trackday concepts. So having this facility in a really remote place wouldn't work so well.
- A Motorsports complex would be successful only around a Club or association module.So going far would reduce the social element as majority car enthusiasts are from cities.
-Case Studies which I looked into were the off road track at Khalapur, Chennai Racing Club and the circuit,BIC,Yas Marina.

I think Raid-De Himalaya is quite popular and you could formulate your brief on those lines. Also I like the idea of experiencing architecture in your car and with your car. You could also design small halting stations for vehicles doing popular trails like Ladakh. It is not necessary that your site has to be one piece of land. You can break it up into smaller units and design them collectively to form one big experience.

I would suggest you reduce the scale of the project and concentrate more on built forms and clubs with smal circuits and drag strips which can be replicated throughout India as an expansion module. Also I had designed a Fuel Pump in my third year with the idea of converting it into a space for enthusiasts and turning refueling from a chore to something which you connect with your car for non-enthusiasts. Look at it this way... You go to a pump where all fellow Team-BHPians go for refueling and you meet them from time to time. It forms a Social Activity.

If you have any doubts I'll try and help you.Good Luck with your thesis.

[cruiser@0523]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

It is a very interesting topic indeed. However, I see two major challenges with the concept:

1. Convincing your faculty members for the topic and finding a good guide for the project seems difficult (or at least it was difficult in our times)

2. The feasibility in terms of business sense of the project needs to be thoroughly carried out. The concept will fail in initial stages if the developer of such village is not getting back returns on his returns in 9-10 years. External jury will pick on such issues if they do not find any flaw with the design. For me a place closed to Chandigarh (Baddi etc.) or close to a Metro city will have better prospects.

Thankyou for your inputs, I am considering re-working my topic around something which satisfies me and the land-developer/property dealer attitude of the jury.

My thesis guide quite likes my topic and is giving me full support, and she is known for putting down unusual topics, so i guess that part is worked out.

I have till now ascertained that i need to throw in some trinkets here and there to make the jury happy so i can carry on with my design.

Originally Posted by Guite

On sports related project you can have a look at this live project:
http://bcd.bih.nic.in/News/NE-04-03-06-2014.pdf
Jump to page 40 onwards. It's huge, maybe too big for thesis. But then you can exclude the residential portion.

thank you its quite a read, will go through it.

Originally Posted by TheQuarterMile

I finished my thesis 6months back. I finally did a Oceanarium at Worli dairy, Mumbai. I had backed out of the idea of a Motorsprt Complex because I was on a time crunch and din't have enough time to research Site Locations.

Here are a few observations i made when i did partial research on a Motorsports Complex:
-Your justification has to be really strong in terms of Usability:Cost Of Project ratio. I had gone through a few other thesis and all had Land requirement ranging from 700-1000 acres.This raised an issue of acquiring large volume of land for circuits.
-Another thing I noticed about Motorsport events and circuits is that majority of them thrive on weekend and Trackday concepts. So having this facility in a really remote place wouldn't work so well.
- A Motorsports complex would be successful only around a Club or association module.So going far would reduce the social element as majority car enthusiasts are from cities.
-Case Studies which I looked into were the off road track at Khalapur, Chennai Racing Club and the circuit,BIC,Yas Marina.

I think Raid-De Himalaya is quite popular and you could formulate your brief on those lines. Also I like the idea of experiencing architecture in your car and with your car. You could also design small halting stations for vehicles doing popular trails like Ladakh. It is not necessary that your site has to be one piece of land. You can break it up into smaller units and design them collectively to form one big experience.

I would suggest you reduce the scale of the project and concentrate more on built forms and clubs with smal circuits and drag strips which can be replicated throughout India as an expansion module. Also I had designed a Fuel Pump in my third year with the idea of converting it into a space for enthusiasts and turning refueling from a chore to something which you connect with your car for non-enthusiasts. Look at it this way... You go to a pump where all fellow Team-BHPians go for refueling and you meet them from time to time. It forms a Social Activity.

If you have any doubts I'll try and help you.Good Luck with your thesis.

Thanks those are some valuable inputs, adding social petrolhead activities to something like this would surely give it a boost. My thesis co-coordinator is from Sjoba (he knows zero about rallying) so i need to get hold of someone from somewhere to back my idea. If this happens everything will be on track as he is the major influence on the jury.

However i was thinking of increasing the social relevance of this topic.
There is a small village called Nako in Kinnaur, Hp. There have been many restoration projects there focusing on its unique vernacular style. Also there are a LOT of travelers stopping there as it is a major halting spot for bikers/jeep guys enroute spiti. Most of them get turned down due to non-availability of rooms. General idea is to make a petrolhead centric resort/clubhouse/ eco-tourism resort which caters to the needs of these travelers and also promises a fun day if they choose to stay there longer and also in the process boost local economy. This could be home to a super special rally stage or an off raid trail which leads to a camp site etc. Still evolving on this.


More inputs are welcome.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by cruiser@0523

My thesis guide quite likes my topic and is giving me full support, and she is known for putting down unusual topics, so i guess that part is worked out.

I guess half the battle is won in case you have full support of your guide.

Originally Posted by cruiser@0523

However i was thinking of increasing the social relevance of this topic.
There is a small village called Nako in Kinnaur, Hp. There have been many restoration projects there focusing on its unique vernacular style. Also there are a LOT of travelers stopping there as it is a major halting spot for bikers/jeep guys enroute spiti. Most of them get turned down due to non-availability of rooms. General idea is to make a petrolhead centric resort/clubhouse/ eco-tourism resort which caters to the needs of these travelers and also promises a fun day if they choose to stay there longer and also in the process boost local economy. This could be home to a super special rally stage or an off raid trail which leads to a camp site etc. Still evolving on this.

Please be warned that there will be people on the jury who will not easily accept the 'social relevance' and may even link this to socialist principals. In that case the debate can move to another tangent. Also, my advise will be to make as simple and pure as possible and devote your full energy to make your presentation worth attending to. The risks are also huge, you may hit the bulls-eye or you may become easy target for the firing squad.

Mixing too many things/functions may lead to multiple focal point and hence the debate can concentrate on some lesser relevant part of your program. However, the risks will be minimized.

Another way to focus on what you want to build with added provisions (only) for what others want to see. Remember, there are very few genuine automobile enthusiasts out there.

[cruiser@0523]

Hey guys just an update.

At the end of it my topic was " conservation through development " and it dealt with development of tourism infrastructure while respecting local vernacular context. The site chosen was Nako (Spiti).

Ultimately i did not have to compromise much as tourism and preserving vernacular context is more relevant architecturally than a racing circuit.

Everything worked out great and the jury thought the project was very interesting.

Just thought I would give you guys a heads up since you were being so helpful.

Will be shifting to Pune now and starting my job as a cadmonkey